SO MANY OF US who are worried about the coming consequences of the “post-truth” age, whether we’re journalists or not, wonder aloud why people don’t trust the hardworking, mainstream media, and are genuinely puzzled when citizens can no longer identify the truth.
What happened this week when it came to the reporting of the ratings for the Super Bowl in Canada revealed there are reasons behind this confusion and mistrust. Slipshod journalism and a rush to be first has left everyone confused how many Canadians watched the game – and on what channels – since the CRTC removed Bell’s simultaneous substitution rights for the game.
Look at the headlines below, one each from a Rogers Media outlet, another from Corus and yet another from Bell Media. Yes, they all essentially repeated the same poorly written Canadian Press story, but who is on duty in the bowels of these news organizations, whose primary business is broadcasting and whose duty is news?
Shouldn’t these outlets at least get stories about TV correct? Have they laid off too many people so that there’s no one left to edit? (Editor's note, February 12: In response to this story, which we posted February 9th, Corus emailed us to let us know they updated their story to reflect the mistake we reference here, even tagging it with their own editor's note acknowledging the error.)
Super Bowl ratings down 39 per cent in Canada (Rogers)
Super Bowl ratings drop 39 per cent in Canada as CRTC ad policy takes effect (Corus)
Super Bowl ratings down 39% in Canada (Bell Media)
Let’s move on to well known telecom and media blogger University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist. He wrote the CRTC was vindicated in its decision to drop simsub for the game because the number of Super Bowl viewers who migrated from watching on Canadian TV channels to U.S TV was low.
The Future of Simsub Post-Super Bowl: Why Canadian Viewership Data Vindicated the CRTC
He based his post on a tweet from Sports Illustrated’s media reporter Richard Deitsch who quoted former broadcast executive (and current talking head) John Shannon of Sportsnet.
Here’s the thing with all of the above. It’s wrong.
The only thing that fell 39% was viewership of the game on Bell Media properties. It’s an important distinction (which we analyzed here). Ratings for the Super Bowl did NOT drop 39% in Canada. Rogers, Bell and Corus should be embarrassed for publishing what they did. The story is incomplete and lazily written.
Shannon, Deitsch and Geist on the other hand, all got excited by seeing a very low number and pounced on it, never questioning whether or not it is correct – and boy is it not.
Numeris, the source for all TV ratings in Canada does not and can not provide measurement of all Fox stations in Canada. It can NOT give anyone – even its members – an accurate national number. Why? They only measure three Fox stations in Canada: WFFF in Vermont (carried by Montreal and eastern BDUs), WUTV in Buffalo (carried by Greater Toronto Area BDUs) and KAYU in Spokane (carried in Calgary and Edmonton, among others).
Together, those three stations counted just over 800,000 viewers during the Super Bowl game (WFFF: 531,500; KAYU: 235,600; WUTV: 36,300) but there was a technical glitch – “a coding issue,” according to Numeris – with the WUTV measurement. If 531,500 Canadians in Quebec and out east watched the Super Bowl on WFFF, it’s impossible that just 36,000 watched WUTV in the entire GTA.
“It should be immediately retracted by all of them.”
As well, viewership of Fox stations such as WJBD Detroit, which Cogeco carries in Hamilton, or KCPQ Seattle, which Shaw carries in Vancouver, or KMSP Minneapolis, which is the Fox station offered by carriers in Winnipeg and Regina, for example, are not counted by Numeris.
All of this renders the number quoted by Shannon – then Deitsch and Geist – completely meaningless. It should be immediately retracted by all of them.
So many of us in the press are searching for the searing hot take, that wicked mic drop moment, or 140 killer characters that will get us out there first and fast and potentially go viral. It’s an idiotic race – and I say that knowing I have been 100% guilty of being that idiot. Simply put, speed, diminished resources and the pressure to be first cause mistakes which damage our credibility.
And the rush to be first is pointless anyway. You know who cares about scoops? About who’s first? Other journalists, and that’s it. The vast majority of readers don’t care and don’t remember who broke what first. However, if you’re first, and you’re wrong, that lousy information is what sticks, unfortunately.
As journalists we need to change our mindset. We need to take our time and get it right, to inform with the correct information, even if it takes a while. If it’s a worthwhile story, it can wait a few hours, or days – even weeks!
Look, screw-ups on whatever the viewership was for the Super Bowl in Canada pale in comparison to having a president of the United States who simply makes stuff up while employing advisors seemingly devoid of common sense and allergic to facts. However, the shoddy work done this week on this story is a microcosm of why readers struggle with figuring out what’s correct.
If we as journalists want the trust of readers or viewers – or more importantly, to deserve that trust – we must dig a little deeper and work a little harder to make sure we don’t just publish first, but right.
